Bethany professor to give organ recital May 13

Assistant Professor of Music Melody Steed will perform an organ recital on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Presser Hall. The public is invited to attend.

During the concert, Steed will perform works by Marcel Dupré, Louis Vierne and Maurice Duruflé. She will also play “Fantasy on the Golden Sequence” by John Karl Hirten, “Nedělhní Hudba (Sunday Music)” by Petr Eben and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Sonata no.4 in B-flat Major, opus 65.”

A native Iowan, Steed received her bachelor’s degree in organ performance from the University of Northern Iowa and her master’s from the University of Cincinnati. She received her doctorate degree from the University of Southern California and has studied the organ with Marilou Kratzenstein, Jesse Eschbach, Roberta Gary and Cherry Rhodes.

Steed is an active recitalist who has been a featured performer at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. In January 2006, she was a featured soloist for the National Public Radio program “Pipe Dreams Live!” Along with trumpeter Keith Benjamin, she performs in the trumpet/organ duo, “Clarion.” This duo has recorded two compact discs and has performed in Hungary and Romania.

At Bethany, Steed’s responsibilities include teaching organ and music theory as well as serving as the chapel organist and coordinator of sacred music.